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Cotton takes lead over Shoffner in new Senate poll
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Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:28 PM ET
Hallie Shoffner is an Arkansas farmer and agricultural executive who won the 2026 Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Tom Cotton.
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New Arkansas poll shows Tom Cotton takes lead over Hallie Shoffner in race for U.S. Senate seat
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.: Polling released Thursday evening shows Sen. Tom Cotton making some gains against opponent Hallie Shoffner in the race to represent Arkansas in the U.S. Senate.
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Poll: Cotton takes lead over Shoffner
Senator Tom Cotton is in a solid position to win re-election on November 3rd. He leads Democrat Hallie Shoffner by 9 percentage points, with only 5 percent of voters remaining as undecided.
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Cotton’s absence takes center stage at debate between Arkansas’ US Senate candidates | News
CONWAY: Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton was not in the room as his Democratic and Libertarian challengers debated Monday, but criticism of the Arkansas lawmaker’s record and his absence from the debate took center…
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OPINION | WOODY BASSETT: Cotton has lots of money, ads, but showing up for a debate is too much to ask?
This week, Arkansas TV held a debate for the Senate candidates. Hallie Shoffner was there as was Jeff Wadlin, the Libertarian Party candidate.
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In Arkansas, a Senate Race Plays Out Amid Farm Stress
Nonpartisan raters call the race safely Republican, but Shoffner argues farm stress could loosen the GOP’s hold on rural voters.
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No story this week names this candidate.
- Born
- August 31, 1987
- Education
- Vanderbilt University (bachelor's degree in Spanish)
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (study abroad)
Clinton School of Public Service, University of Arkansas (Master of Public Service, 2011)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Shoffner was born in 1987 to John and Wendy Shoffner and was raised in Shoffner, a Jackson County community near Newport, Arkansas, that bears the family name and where her family had farmed rice and soybeans for six generations.
A Newport High School graduate, she completed a Spanish degree at Vanderbilt University, including study abroad in Madrid at the Universidad Complutense, and in 2011 a Master of Public Service at the University of Arkansas's Clinton School of Public Service.
Career
From 2011 to 2012 Shoffner led Seis Puentes, a North Little Rock nonprofit serving Hispanic and Latino residents, and in 2012 she was deputy manager of state representative Tracy Steele's campaign for mayor of North Little Rock.
She went back to the family's 2,000-acre operation in 2016, when her father's dementia set in, and in 2019 took over as chief executive of SFR Seed, the family seed business, which grew rice and soybeans and ran a seed-research farm. In January 2024 she was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar.
In 2024 she also received AgWeb's Top Producer of the Year Next Gen Award and started Delta Harvest, a food-hub venture that helps small and midsize growers move into specialty crops and sell to institutional and commercial buyers.
The family ended its farming operation in February 2025, a closure Shoffner linked to weak commodity prices, higher input costs, tariffs and federal farm policy.
2026 race
In July 2025 Shoffner entered the race for the Class 2 U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Tom Cotton, who is seeking a third term in the November 3, 2026, general election. Her campaign has emphasized household costs, farm policy, Medicaid and Social Security.
She won the Democratic primary on March 3, 2026, with 78.3 percent of the vote over Lewisville mayor Ethan Dunbar, while Cotton took the Republican nomination the same day with 81.6 percent. Former Democratic senator Blanche Lincoln later endorsed her.
On October 12, 2026, Shoffner faced Libertarian nominee Jeff Wadlin in a debate broadcast by Arkansas PBS, which Cotton declined to attend.